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I. WALT HOLCOMB. 
3. S. RASMUSSEN. 


Z. PAUL KOWALSKI. 
4. W. G. THONGER. 
5. JOSEF DOBES. 






Modern Evangelism and Ancient 
Environment 


Modem Evangelism 
and Ancient En¬ 
vironment 



By Walt Holcomb 

Author of “Popular Lectures 
of Sam Jones” 


COKESBURY PRESS 
Nashville, Tenn. 

I9M 




Copyright, 192.4 

by 

Lamar & Barton 




JLfN -6 1924 

©C1A792727 


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«• 



To 

MY LIFELONG FRIEND IN 
THE MINISTRY 

Bishop W. B. Beauchamp 

WHO MADE POSSIBLE THE 
EUROPEAN MISSION, THIS 
VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY 
INSCRIBED 










FOREWORD 


T HE eight revival sermons in this little 
volume were preached in the old city 
of Prague by Dr. Walt Holcomb. He 
preached every night in the largest theater 
in Central Europe. This theater is four 
stories underground. 

I do not think I have ever seen a man 
facing a more difficult situation; and yet 
he met it bravely and with implicit faith. 
The results were marvelous and every night 
this immense auditorium was filled to 
capacity. 

The sermons were skillfully and sym¬ 
pathetically interpreted into the Czech 
language by Rev. Josef Dobes. The effect 
of these sermons, though delivered through 
an interpreter, was exactly the same in 
every respect as would no doubt have been 
the case if they had been delivered before an 
audience in America. 

The sermons were taken down in English 

( 7 ) 


8 Modern Evangelism 

and Bohemian and have been carefully 
edited and printed in a booklet to be dis¬ 
tributed throughout Czecho-Slovakia. 

I have just learned that Dr. Holcomb is 
contemplating having them printed in the 
English language also. I feel sure that 
their distribution in America will mean much 
to the ongoing of the kingdom of God. 

Let those who read them in English pray 
that those who read the Bohemian copies 
may not only be convicted of sin, but led 
to the Saviour and to Christian service. 

J. L. Neill, 

Superintendent of the Methodist Mission 
and Principal of Bible Training School. 

Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, January 1, 1924. 


INFORMATORY 


T HE sermons contained in this volume 
were delivered during an evangel¬ 
istic campaign in Europe. 

While the entire series was preached in 
“ Velky Sal Lucerna” in Prague, some of the 
sermons had previously been delivered in 
other parts of Europe. 

The sermon on “Scarlet Sins” was first 
preached in Brussels, Belgium, and in¬ 
terpreted by a Frenchman. 

The one entitled “Salvation” was de¬ 
livered in Danzig and interpreted by a 
German, before being preached in Prague. 

The sermons on “Christ in His Church” 
and “Choose Christ” were preached in 
Warsaw, Poland, and interpreted by a Pole. 

In the cities where they were first de¬ 
livered the illustrations and references had 
a local coloring. In the corrected manu¬ 
scripts I have allowed these localisms to 


remain. 


( 9 ) 


10 Modem Evangelism 

All the other sermons were especially 
prepared for the Czech people and were 
interpreted by a Bohemian. Local refer¬ 
ences to Prague and Czecho-Slovakia are 
retained in the printed page. 

As I preached through interpreters, the 
messages necessarily had to be brief. It 
took as much time for the interpreter as 
it did for the evangelist. The sentences are 
short, as a rule, as our desire was to get 
not only the thought, but the actual words, 
into the minds of the hearers. 

There was such harmony and sympathy 
existing between the preacher and the in¬ 
terpreter, and we kept up such a rapid fire, 
that the audience scarcely noticed any 
break in the delivery of the messages. 

My reason for publishing these sermons 
is that they have a peculiar interest as the 
reader may associate Modern Evangelism 
with Ancient Environment. 

Walt Holcomb. 

Cartersville, Ga., January 1, 1924. 




CONTENTS 

I Page. 

Christ in His Church. 15 

II 

A Disordered House. 33 

III 

Confessing to Christ. 49 

IV 

Work Well Done. 65 

V 

Choose Christ. 79 

VI 

An Erring Brother. . . 93 

VII 

Scarlet Sins. 109 

VIII 

Our Salvation. 125 


(ii) 


























I 

CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH 


breached at Warsaw , Poland , in Amerykanska 
M.isja M.etodystow 

Interpreted by Paul Kowalski , a Native 
of Poland 



M OREOVER if thy brother shall trespass against 
thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and 
him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy 
brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with 
thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three 
witnesses every word may be established. And if he 
shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but 
if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee 
as an heathen man and a publican. Again I say unto 
you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching 
anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them 
of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or 
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in 
the midst of them. 


CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH 


“ Where two or three are gathered together 
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. 

If two of you shall agree on earth as touching 
anything that they shall ask, it shall be done 
for them of my Father which is in heaven.” 
(Matt, xviii. 19.) 

I F you were in America this morning^ 
attending a big Protestant Church, 
and there sat by your side a person who 
was totally blind, with his sightless eyeballs 
turned to the floor and eyelids tightly 
drawn, you might see him nudge his neigh¬ 
bor in the side and hear him say, “I thought 
I was at the first service of a revival—not a 
prayer meeting.” Perhaps you would not 
understand his meaning. A revival is 
something new to the Polish people. 

But in America we have big crowds at 
revivals and small crowds at prayer meeting. 
And our people have associated this Scrip- 

( 15 ) 


16 Modern Evangelism 

ture with the prayer meeting until they 
think it is out of place elsewhere. 

The text is as appropriate for a houseful 
as a handful. In your prayer groups it 
would be easier to find two or three praying 
Christians than in a houseful as we have at 
this opening service. 

However, everything in the verses hinges 
upon the first expression: “Where two or 
three are gathered together in My Name.” 
Something brought you here. In speaking 
of a revival crowd in the early New Testa¬ 
ment days, the question was asked, “What 
went ye out for to see?” 

When the bishop appoints a new pastor 
to a church in my Southland, the members 
come out to hear him preach the first 
sermon. Sometimes he does not see them 
again during the year. 

When I start a revival meeting I always 
have a big crowd at the opening service. 
People want to see the new minister. They 
are usually disappointed in me. There are 


Christ in His Church 


17 


two things my wife will not admit. One is— 
that I am a better preacher than her father; 
and the other is—that I am handsome. 
That is why I respect her judgment. 

As I have just arrived from America, 
perhaps some of you have come out this 
morning to see what I look like. Some 
people like to go to church to see and be 
seen. They want to shake hands, exchange 
greetings, and give expression to their social 
nature. The church is primarily a soul¬ 
saving institution. The church ought also 
to be the greatest social center in a com¬ 
munity. It is better to make this Mis¬ 
sion Building headquarters for social gath¬ 
erings than for you to be sitting around 
beer gardens and hanging around dancing 
halls. 

Other people like to go to church to enjoy 
good music. They do not like preaching, but 
enjoy good singing. Everybody appreciates 
good music—they do not care for poor 
music. It would be better to come tQ church 
2 


18 Modern Evangelism 

to sing and to be sung to than to go to the 
theater and listen to the jazz music. 

But if you have nothing more in mind 
than to hear a new voice, meet one another, 
and mingle your voices in song—while you 
will get good from coming, you will go away 
with your blessing limited. But if, back 
of seeing, singing, and listening, the magic, 
magnetic, and marvelous name of Jesus 
attracts and brings you here, you will 
receive such an uplift as you will find no¬ 
where else. 

When we gather in the name of Jesus, 
that brings Christ to our church. Jesus 
has a standing engagement to meet, any¬ 
where and any time, two or three persons 
who come together in his name. Now I 
believe the required number has gathered 
in the name of Christ. This guarantees the 
presence of Jesus. Jesus is here. He 
promised to come with us. He kept his 
engagement. His presence is as real as your 
presence. The real Jesus is in this hall— 


Christ in His Church 19 

not a mere crucifix, as you may behold in 
Roman Catholic churches, but the living 
Christ. 

While Jesus is here, you must recognize 
his presence. Unless you recognize him, 
you will not receive the religious thrill that 
your soul needs. I might see Herbert 
Hoover in the rear of the building and not 
mention his presence, and you would go 
away without a humanitarian thrill. But 
if I should say, “ Yonder is Herbert Hoover,” 
you would think of his great relief work in 
Poland during the big war and in your 
characteristic enthusiasm would rush to 
shake his hands. 

If I can get you to see Jesus, you will fall 
at his feet. Charles Lamb said: “If Shake¬ 
speare should enter the room, we would rise 
to our feet; but if Jesus should enter we 
would fall upon our knees.” We would do 
likewise. 

A great American preacher had finished 
his sermon on Saturday night. After a 


20 Modern Evangelism 

week of visiting among his people, while 
sitting in his study, weary and worn, he 
fell asleep. He dreamed that the Sunday 
morning congregation had assembled. 
Beautiful music had swelled from the big 
organ and choir. Prayer had been offered 
and a collection received. 

The minister was preaching, when sudden¬ 
ly the door opened and a stranger entered. 
Quietly he walked down the central aisle. 
A man in the audience recognized him and 
gave him a seat by his side. The silent 
stranger fascinated the minister. When he 
had finished his sermon he hoped that the 
stranger would come forward and make 
himself known, but the mysterious visitor 
departed with the crowd. 

The pastor found his member and asked, 
“Who was that wonderful person that sat 
by you?” “Did you not know him?” 
asked the friend; “why, that was Jesus.” 

The minister awoke from his dream.’ 
The tears streamed down his cheeks as he 


Christ in His Church 


21 


exclaimed: “We let him come and go with¬ 
out recognizing him. How differently we 
would have preached, prayed, and sung if 
we had known that Jesus was in our midst.” 

At this opening service let us recognize 
the presence of Jesus. You will receive 
such a spiritual thrill that it will lift you 
above the world’s turmoil and strife. 

The next expression in the text is: “If 
two of you shall agree on earth as touch¬ 
ing anything that they shall ask.” “That 
sounds out of place,” you say. No, that is 
the natural thing for Jesus to say. When 
your friends drop in to see you, do you close 
up like a clam? If you just sat there without 
saying anything, they might leave and 
recall Pope’s epigram: 

“You beat your pate and fancy wit will come; 

Knock as you please, there’s nobody at home. ,, 

The presence of your friends inspires you 
to talk. Anyway, you would make some 
signs. Polish people are great on talking 


22 Modern Evangelism 

with their hands. Jesus knew that his 
presence would inspire you to pray. 

There are many things that you want to 
say to Jesus as he sits here in your midst. 
I believe in public prayer, as led by your 
pastor; but there are things we want to say 
to Jesus that we do not care for the crowd to 
hear. I believe in family prayer; but there 
are things we want to say to Jesus that we 
do not care for our wives and children to 
hear. 

Jesus Christ is by your side that you may 
whisper into his ear. If you were to tell 
your neighbor your sorrows, troubles, and 
heartaches, he might turn a cold shoulder to 
your tale of woe; but Jesus will turn a 
warm heart to your despairing cry. Your 
temptations, sins, and needs will interest 
him. In your poverty and confusion— 
call upon Jesus. 

Some things, however, rise out of the 
individual into the collective realm. While 
the Methodist Church in Poland is small, 


Christ in His Church 


23 


we remember that John Wesley had a 
small group of earnest souls in Oxford Uni¬ 
versity, where our Church was founded. 
Where two or three persons are assembled 
in Jesus’s name, that is as much a church 
as if two or three thousand worshipers had 
gathered in a cathedral in the name of 
Christ. 

But the church must agree if the promise 
is fulfilled. The law of conversation is 
agreement. You cannot have an intelligent 
conversation with everybody talking at the 
same time about different things. Euro¬ 
peans can jabber at the same time, but an 
intelligent conversation follows the law of 
agreement. 

It is not necessary to agree about non- 
essentials. In fact, most of our disagree¬ 
ments are about nonessentials. I attended 
a prayer meeting for rain. One farmer 
said: “If it does not rain, my corn will 
burn up.” Another farmer arose and said: 
“I cut my hay yesterday and if it does rain 


24 Modern Evangelism 

I am ruined.” We could not agree as to the 
time for rain. After prayer, I looked around 
and did not see an unbrella in the crowd. 
Since then, when I have wanted rain, I have 
gone up on the mountain top alone, like 
Elijah of old. 

Americans could not agree about enter¬ 
ing the World War. I wanted the Allies 
to go into Berlin. While I like the plain 
German people, I have no respect for the 
chief Hun, ex-Kaiser Wilhelm. Before the 
war my wife called me “hun” and I thought 
it was cute, but during the war I told her to 
‘‘cut it out.” 

There is one thing that Christians the 
world over can agree upon—and that is the 
revival of religion. While this is the first 
revival you ever attended, your soul is 
hungry for Christ. While you are poor, 
and many of you without a job and a home— 
as a result of the war—you had rather find 
Jesus and be saved than to have all the 
wealth of the world. 


Christ in Ilis Church 25 

We want to agree upon salvation for the 
Polish people. There is nothing that lies 
closer to the heart of Jesus than your salva¬ 
tion. He walked the long, lonely road to 
Calvary that you might be saved. Can we 
agree on salvation? How many of you will 
say “Yes” by raising your hand? That's 
fine. 

The last words in the verse are: “It shall 
be done for them of my Father which is in 
heaven.” See where the text has led us. We 
have got in touch with one higher up. 
Anything can be done if we get in touch with 
the one who can put it over. Everything 
“heads up”—even a cabbage. The force 
of the logic leads us to Christ. Jesus said: 
“It shall be done.” Faith exclaims: “It is 
already done.” 

In America one of our finest trains is the 
Dixie Flyer, which runs from Chicago to 
Jacksonville. Some time ago I was in 
Nashville, the headquarters of our Church, 
and was going to Florida. I went to the 


26 Modern Evangelism 

ticket office and asked for a ticket to Carters- 
ville. The agejit said: ‘‘The Dixie Flyer 
doesn’t stop there.” “She doesn’t? I in¬ 
quired. “Give me a ticket to Dalton,’ I 
said. When we reached Dalton, all those 
who had tickets for that place got off, except 
myself. When the train pulled out of the 
station, the conductor came along and said, 
“Tickets, please.” “Captain,” I replied, 
“ I just had a ticket to the last stop. Won’t 
you slow up the Dixie Flyer and let me 
step off at Cartersville?” “I shall be glad 
to do so,” said he. Reaching Cartersville, 
he stopped the train. 

Later on, I was in Nashville and bought 
a ticket to the same station. While the 
big Dixie Flyer was pulling out of Dalton, 
the conductor came along collecting tickets. 
I said: “Captain, won’t you please stop the 
Dixie at Cartersville and let me eat fried 
chicken with my mother-in-law?” Some 
men do not like their mothers-in-law, but I 
rather like mine. The conductor replied: 


Christ in His Church 


27 


“I cannot do that, sir.” I remarked: 
“Captain, didn’t you do that for me a few 
months ago?” “Yes,” said he, “and that 
is just the reason I cannot do it now. I 
nearly lost my job. The company jacked 
me up and wanted to know why I stopped 
the train.” I had to go to Marietta and 
come back on another train. I got to 
Cartersville about midnight, and all that 
was left of the fried chicken was liver, 
gizzard, and neck. 

Again, I was at Nashville and wanted to 
stop off at Cartersville, as my wife and 
babies were there. I knew I could not work 
the conductor again. I did not want to ride 
the local train all day. While thinking, it 
occurred to me that the president of the 
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Rail¬ 
way had his office just across the street from 
the Union Depot. He had the last word on 
the Dixie Flyer. I picked up a telephone 
and asked central to give me his number. 
“Is this the office of the president of the 


28 


Modern Evangelism 


N., C. & St. L. Railway?” I inquired. 
‘‘Yes, sir,” was the quick reply. “Mr. 
President,” I said, “this is Walt Holcomb— 
Reverend Walt Holcomb. I want to know 
if you won’t stop the Dixie Flyer and let 
me off at Cartersville?” il \ shall be glad 
to do so,” said he, “and I will send an order 
over to the ticket agent.” Thanking him, 
I hung up the receiver. 

Reaching the depot, I said to the ticket 
agent: “Son, does the Dixie Flyer stop at 
Cartersville?” He replied: “It is not a 
schedule stop, but I have an order to sell a 
ticket for that place.” Reaching the gate, 
I said: “Gateman, does the Dixie Flyer stop 
at Cartersville?” He answered: “I have 
an order to let a fellow through for that 
place to-day, although it is not a regular 
stop.” When the conductor came through 
the car, I asked: “Captain, does the Dixie 
Flyer stop at Cartersville?” He replied: 
“ It is not a regular stop, but I have an order 
to put a passenger off there to-day.” 


Christ in His Church 


29 


When we reached Chattanooga, while we 
were changing engines, I went to the lunch 
counter and got a glass of buttermilk. 
Soon we had passed Dalton, Calhoun, and 
Adairsville. I was sitting on the right side 
of the car when I saw the cemetery and was 
thinking of our silent dead; then I was 
awakened from my meditation by a shrill 
blast of the whistle. As the engineer blew 
for the station, I could see the flagman at 
the crossing waving the “stop” signal to 
hold back the automobiles while the big 
Dixie went through town. 

The conductor arose and pulled the bell 
cord, and she hissed. He pulled it the second 
time, and she whizzed. He pulled it the 
third time, and she sizzled again. Then the 
engineer gave three short blasts of the 
whistle. He applied the air brakes. The 
applied brakes were grinding the sparks out 
of the spinning wheels. The big Dixie was 
trembling with convulsions. Slower and 
slower—until the train stopped still. 


30 Modem Evangelism 

I got off. The conductor gave the signal, 
the engineer opened the throttle, the big 
Dixie picked up speed and went rumbling 
along toward the 11 Land of Flowers. No¬ 
body was jacked up. No j°b was endan¬ 
gered. The president of the road had passed 
the word down the line. Let us this morn¬ 
ing through Jesus Christ get in touch with 
our Heavenly Father—the one high over 
all—that it may be said in heaven: “Old 
Warsaw shall have a revival of religion.” 


II 

A DISORDERED HOUSE 


Preached at Prague , Czechoslovakia , in 
“Velky Sal Lucerna” (Big Hall 
of Lanterns ) 

Interpreted hy Josef Dobes , a Native 
Bohemian 



I N the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, 
and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the 
grinders cease because they are few, and those that 
look out of the windows be darkened, and the doors 
shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the 
grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the 
bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought 
low; and when they shall be afraid of that which is 
high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree 
shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, 
and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long 
home, and the mourners go about the streets: or ever 
the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, 
or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel 
broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to 
the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto 
God who gave it. 


A DISORDERED HOUSE 


“Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, 
and not live.” (Isa. xxxviii. 1.) 


E VERYBODY knows what a disordered 
house is—especially the good house¬ 
keepers. You have seen one to-day, have 
you not? This morning when you kissed 
your husband good-by and sent him off to 
work, and dressed the children and start¬ 
ed them off to school, you looked around 
and said: “This old house has to be put in 
order again.” 

A husband whose wife keeps the home 
in order should love her—next to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. If he does not love such a 
wife, he ought to be exiled to Holland and 
chained to ex-Kaiser Bill. That is as bad a 
wish as I could make—unless he should be 
exiled to that other place, which begins 
with “H,” and chained to the original 
3 (33) 


34 Modern Evangelism 

kaiser, his majesty the devil. The way you 
smile I believe you heartily agree with me. 

Most of you know what a disordered body 
is. Some of you are living in one. To hear 
folks talk, you would think that about all 
that is left is tongue and backache. I had 
an uncle once, and we called him “Uncle 
Roddy.” That name itself was enough to 
make him feel bad. Every time I saw him 
and inquired about his health, he said: 
“Walt, I am down with the rheumatism and 
your Aunt Mary is down with neuralgia.” 
I did not ask about the entire family, but 
“Uncle Roddy” was generous with dis¬ 
agreeable news. Many of us have diseased 
bodies. The political, economic, and re¬ 
ligious house of Europe is disordered to-day. 

However, there are more diseased and dis¬ 
ordered souls in Prague than there are dis¬ 
ordered homes or diseased bodies. Many 
are asking, “What is the matter with me?” 
I will tell you: “Sin.” Sin is the only 
thing that can get a man’s soul out of order. 


A Disordered House 


35 


Some sin is still crouching at the door of 
your heart. Just close the door against 
willful sin and you will have the assurance 
that the house of your soul is in order. Sin 
is the only act that can rob the soul of its 
assurance and peace. 

There may be special sins that you are 
committing in your home that are dis¬ 
ordering your soul. 2 Kings xx. 15 reads: 
“What have they seen in thine house?” 
There may be things in your house that 
keep your soul out of order. A deck of 
gambling cards will disorder your soul. An 
indecent and immoral dance will soil your 
soul. Intoxicating liquors in your cup¬ 
board will put your house out of order. 

A lady asked me to dine with her. While 
waiting for dinner, she was talking like a 
windmill about her lack of assurance of 
salvation. I could not get in a word edge¬ 
wise. Presently her little girl, who was 
playing with the pastor out in the hall, came 
and said: “Mamma, give me the cards.’’ 


36 Modern Evangelism 

The mother said: “Run along, darling, I am 
talking to Mr. Holcomb about my soul. 
The little child replied: “Give me the cards 
and I’ll go.” 

The embarrassed mother pulled the cards 
from the table drawer and said: “Mr. 
Holcomb, I have been thinking of burning 
these cards for several days: and as my little 
girl has exposed me, I am going to pitch them 
into the fire.” When the cards had burned 
up, leaving a little pile of white ashes, I 
remarked to the woman: “The thing in the 
home which disordered your soul has now 
gone up in smoke.” She became a happy 
and useful Christian worker. Suppose you 
clean out your house. 

You disordered your house and you must 
put it in order. We blame bad people and 
the devil for our condition, but the trouble 
lies with us. While the devil may have 
tempted you, and bad people may have 
influenced you, it was your own will that 
yielded. Now God and good people will 


A Disordered House 37 

help you to set the house right—but you 
must do it yourself. 

Did any wife see a woman coming across 
the street this morning, with a mop under 
her arm, to clean up her house? No, and 
you won’t see one if you look again, because 
every housekeeper has all she can do to look 
after her own home. Let us then attend to 
our own souls. 

The house of repentance is out of order. 
I have been looking for a house that will not 
leak. If the rain falls long and hard enough, 
most houses will leak. As this famous hall 
is four stories underground and four stories 
aboveground, I will not look around for a 
leak, as I do when illustrating this point in 
our American churches. When we notice 
the little hole in the roof, if we would repair 
it immediately, we would save our ceiling. 

When the first moral leak is detected, if 
we would repair it by the grace of God, it 
would save the polish of our soul from being 
erased. 


38 M.odern Evangelism 

I could give several definitions of re¬ 
pentance, but in this connection I will say, 
“ Repentance is repair.” 

I visited in a family of thirteen, where 
every child would read the Bible and pray 
in the home. Each one was a member of the 
Methodist Church. The entire family took 
communion—filling up the altar railing 
first. It was the most Christ-like home I 
ever saw. On Sunday afternoon I was 
invited to join the family in the library. 
The father opened the Bible and read the 
lesson. Then before prayer he turned to 
his wife and asked: “Wife, have you seen 
anything in my life during the past week 
that was inconsistent?” (I said to myself, 
“ I would be afraid to ask my wife a question 
like that in public.” Wouldn’t you?) She 
answered: “Husband, you have been so good 
and kind that it has been easy for us to be 
Christians. ’ ’ 

After such questions had been asked and 
answered by every member of the family, 


A Disordered House 


39 


they knelt down and prayed to God. I 
understood, then, why it was such a Chris¬ 
tian home. The house of repentance was 
being kept in order. 

The house of prayer is also disordered. 
The breath of prayer is the best disinfectant 
in the home against the contagious diseases 
of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The 
reason why many fail in the Christian life 
is because we do not pray enough. It is 
impossible to be a Christian without con¬ 
stant prayer. 

During a revival in America I was enter¬ 
tained in the home of a prominent old judge. 
It was the cleanest home physically I was 
ever in. In the dining room, the linen was 
white, the silver was bright, the china was 
shining. The aged judge pulled the chair 
back for his wife. She was more than three¬ 
score years old. He kissed her as she sat 
down at the table. He kissed her three times 
a day, at each meal, for ten days. If they 
had been young and just returned from 


40 Modern Evangelism 

their honeymoon, one spooning like that 
would have been all my digestion could 
stand. But as they had been married over 
fifty years, I thought it was the sweetest 
scene that I had ever witnessed. Their 
Christian life was also sweet and happy. 

One day I went up to my room, and upon 
entering it I saw the old judge by my bed, 
with his face buried in his hands, pouring 
out his soul to God in prayer. Arising from 
his knees, he placed his trembling hand on 
my shoulder, saying: “I will not apologize 
for this scene, but I will explain. It is my 
daily custom to make a round of the rooms 
and pray for those who occupy them. I 
begin with wife’s room and thank God for 
the long, happy years we have spent together 
and ask that our declining days may be the 
brightest. Then I go to the room of my 
daughter, whose husband was recently killed 
in a mine, and plead with God to comfort and 
console her in her grief and sorrow.” Then 
he added: “In an adjoining room sleep our 


METHODIST REVIVAL SERVICE AT PRAGUE. WALT HOLCOMB, PREACHING* JOSEF DOBES, INTERPRETING. 
















A Disordered House 


41 


two fatherless little grandchildren. I bow 
at their small bed and pray that God may 
help us to bring them up for Christ. And 
as you are our guest, I have come into your 
room each day and knelt by your bedside, 
asking God to take care of your wife and 
babies at home, and to give you strength to 
preach the gospel to our people.” 

I put my arms around his neck and said: 
“I would to God that every home in the 
world had a saint like you to make a daily 
round of prayer like this.” The house of 
prayer was in order. How much prayer 
does God hear in your home? 

The reason that God gives for getting the 
house in order is that we are not going to 
stay here always. 

People do not like to hear a minister 
preach about death. The only absolute 
certainty in life is death. Since I must die, 
I am going to think about it. I am not 
morbid. There has not been a day since I 
saw the first crape on a door facing, watched 


42 Modern Evangelism 

the first hearse going to a cemetery, looked 
into the first open grave, but that I have 
wondered if my time would not be next. 
I want you to think about dying until you 
are ready to live. 

Preaching from this text in an American 
university, before a body of law students, 
I closed the sermon by saying: “Young 
men, I am not going to tell you how to 
become great lawyers—your noble profes¬ 
sors have instructed you well. You may 
never live to get your diploma, to hang up 
your shingle, or to appear in the court 
room. I want to know what will become 
of your soul when the young lawyer is dead. 
Therefore my text is: “Set thine house in 
order; for thou shalt die, and not live/ ” 

I dismissed the congregation, and while 
the crowd was going out, I noticed a small, 
frail man, who looked more like a Jap than 
an American, pushing his way through the 
crowded aisle to the platform. Placing his 
hand in mine, and speaking with a voice 


A Disordered House 


43 


more like the voice of a woman than a man, 
he said: “Mr. Holcomb, my name is R. G. 
Pearson.” I shook his hand, looked into his 
keen, small, black eyes and said: “Dr. 
Pearson, I am so glad to meet you. When 
I was a boy I read about your wonderful 
revivals in the Southland. I always wanted 
to meet you.” He replied: “Well, I am 
not preaching now. The last time I preached 
I fell over in the pulpit. My heart went 
back on me.” “Yes, I remember reading 
about that,” I answered. “About the same 
time the doctors told Dwight L. Moody 
and Sam P. Jones, the greatest American 
evangelists, the same thing. Neither one of 
them took the doctor’s advice. They are 
both in their graves,” I reminded him. 
Dr. Pearson said: “My physician did not 
want me to come out to the meeting. My 
heart is so treacherous that he was afraid 
it might stop. But I wanted to be in one of 
your services.” Still clinging to my hand, 
the noted preacher said: “While you were 


44 Modern Evangelism 

preaching to our law students about putting 
their houses in order, I sat in my seat and 
asked God to take a lighted torch and go 
through every nook, corner, and crevice of 
my being and see if there was a disordered 
niche.” Continuing, he said: “I have made 
up with all my enemies, and love everybody. 
I have paid all my debts, and do not owe any 
man a cent. I went out to the cemetery and 
bought a plot of ground—just big enough 
to bury wife and myself—that is all the 
real estate I own. I have seen the under¬ 
taker and selected my casket. I have been 
down to the marble yard and chosen a 
marble slab to be placed at my grave.” 
Then, with his wonderful eyes moistened 
with tears, gripping my hand tighter he 
added: 1 ‘When you hear that this heart of 
mine has ceased to beat, you may know 
that the house was in order. If I had a 
thousand years in which to live, there is 
nothing more that I would do than I have 
done.” 


A Disordered House 


45 


Some months afterwards I picked up one 
of our American papers and read an As¬ 
sociated Press dispatch which said: “Dr. 
R. G. Pearson, the distinguished Presby¬ 
terian minister and evangelist, died this 
morning while asleep in bed.” 

Set thine house in order—for thou shalt go 
away—and not come back. 









Ill 

CONFESSING TO CHRIST 


Preached in the City of Prague , Underground 
Theater—“Velky Sal Lucerna" 

Interpreted by Josef Dobes , a Native 
Bohemian 



I F we say that we have fellowship with him, and 
walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but 
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have 
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that 
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth 
is not in us. 

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a 
liar, and his word is not in us. 

My little children, these things write I unto you, 
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an ad¬ 
vocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 
and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours 
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 


Ill 

CONFESSING TO CHRIST 

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness.” (1 John i. 9.) 

I T is a sad fact that we are steeped in 
sin and that sin is embedded in us. 
The question that should concern us the 
most is: “How may I get out of sin and get 
sin out of me?” This simple Scripture an¬ 
swers our twofold inquiry better than any 
other in the Bible. 

Listen to the first expression in the verse: 
“If we confess our sins/’ That includes 
each one of us, and represents the sins of 
our past lives. The other part of the text 
says: “He is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un¬ 
righteousness.” Thank God, that does 
away with every sin of thought, word, and 
deed that we have committed. 

4 


( 49 ) 


SO Modern Evangelism 

There are just two things in the text: 
One is our confession to Christ; the other 
is Christ’s forgiveness and cleansing. It 
has been said that God will meet us halfway. 
But in this text he has done better than 
that. He promises to forgive and cleanse 
us. However, Jesus Christ conditions his 
cleansing and forgiveness upon our con¬ 
fession: “If we confess.” This is another 
way of saying that if we will not confess 
God will not forgive. 

There are two kinds of confession. One 
is a confession of Jesus Christ as the Son 
of God. If Jesus is not divine, you would be 
just as safe in confessing your sin to men as 
to him. There are people in Prague who 
deny the deity of Jesus Christ. I do not 
care who they are, what positions they 
occupy, what titles they possess, they are 
of the devil and on their way to hell. 

If Jesus is not divine, then confess your 
sins to priests or preachers. But as he is 
the Son of God, he alone can forgive sin. 


Confessing to Christ 51 

It is useless to confess your sins to any one 
else. Only the Son of God can forgive sin. 
Thank God, Jesus has power on earth to 
forgive sin. And, blessed be God, you don’t 
need anybody, priest or preacher, to go 
between you and God. The vilest sinner 
in this big hall can get to Jesus with as much 
ease as a bishop, archbishop, or pope. 

We must emphasize the necessity of con¬ 
fessing Jesus before the world before we 
consider confessing sin to him. It is abso¬ 
lutely necessary to confess Jesus Christ 
before men if you would be saved. Some 
of you are ashamed to come forward; some 
afraid; some too timid; others too stubborn. 
Many do not believe in it; well, the devil 
doesn’t either, but Jesus does. In Matthew 
x. 32, 33, we read; “Whosoever therefore 
shall confess me before men, him will I 
confess also before my Father which is in 
heaven.” And to make it doubly strong, 
he makes this other statement: “But who¬ 
soever shall deny me before men, him will 


52 Modern Evangelism 

I also deny before my Father which is in 
heaven/’ 

These verses are our authority for asking 
you to meet us for private instruction, or 
to go into the inquiry room, where we may 
talk with you personally about your sal¬ 
vation. In America people come forward 
and give the minister the hand, as a token of 
the confession of Christ as a personal 
Saviour. It is not so much the way you 
make it known to men as the fact that you 
surrender your heart and life to Christ. A 
good way to make this confession is to take 
upon yourself her vows when you join the 
Church—provided you do not believe in 
the infallibility of the Church to save, as 
the Roman Catholics do. 

The confession mentioned in the text is 
that of our sins to Jesus Christ. After we 
acknowledge Jesus as Redeemer we must 
confess our sins to him. This does not mean 
that we can count our sins one by one as if 
they were a string of beads, for they are as 


Confessing to Christ 53 

the sands of the sea. We go into sin in the 
retail method, but get out in the wholesale 
way. It means that we turn over all the 
sins of our lives in a great lump before God. 
He remembers and can count them, as he 
blots them out from the book of remem¬ 
brance. 

We want to leave the hall with our sins 
forgiven. Therefore it is necessary that we 
know what the Bible means by confessing 
sin. Unless we know what it means it will 
be impossible for us to do it. There are 
three things implied in a confession of sin: 
I am sorry that I have sinned, I am sorry 
that I have sins in my life, and am sorry 
that I am a sinner. 

No man will confess until he is sorry for 
his wrongs. You cannot coax him to con¬ 
fess. You cannot scare him into a con¬ 
fession. You could not take a derrick and 
lift a confession from his mouth. But it is 
easy to confess when we have a sense of 
contrition. Psalm li. 17: “The sacrifices 


54 Modem Evangelism 

of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a 
contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” 

When you have a fuss and a fight with 
your neighbor, you will not ask his for¬ 
giveness so long as you are sullen, but 
when you are sorry you will go to him and 
make your confession. At our headquarters 
in Nashville, in a revival, I saw two rail¬ 
road men have a head-on collision, and fall 
into each other’s arms. When I saw them 
hugging and beating each other in the back 
I ran to them and asked what it all meant. 
One of them said: “I am a conductor on a 
train going in and out of this city daily. This 
man is my engineer. A year ago he spoke 
harshly to me and I sent back words more 
cutting. Then he told me to shut my 
mouth. I asked him never to speak to me 
again. For the last year we have run the 
same train, he as engineer and I as con¬ 
ductor. We have not spoken to each other 
since.” “But as I listened to the gospel,” 
he continued, “I thought how sinful and 


Confessing to Christ 55 

devilish I have been. I promised God that 
if I lived to see my engineer again I would 
confess my sin to him and ask for forgive¬ 
ness. At the close of the service, I caught 
his eye and made a bee line for him. We 
put our arms around each other and that 
settled our misunderstanding. It's all over 
now and we love each other.” That is the 
way folks make up when they are sorry. 
But when they are not sorry they say, “I'll 
meet you halfway." God bless you, when 
a man regrets a misunderstanding and 
wants to make up, he will go all the way. 
There is no halfway ground for people who 
are making up old grudges. 

When a sinner becomes sorry for his sins 
he runs to the outstretched arms of Jesus, 
and Christ puts his arms of love about him 
and forgives him for all the sins he has 
committed. Are you sorry for your sins? 
If so, confess them to Christ and he will now 
forgive you. 

The other thing that is implied in a con- 


56 Modern Evangelism 

fession of sin to Christ is, I am so sorry for 
my past sins that, by the help of God, I will 
renounce them. The reason that many of 
you are unforgiven is because you have 
never given up your sins. You have con¬ 
fessed them in a way a thousand times, 
but you are still holding on to them. You 
have bowed before the altars of the church, 
knelt before the statue of the Virgin Mary, 
and told your sins to the priests, then have 
gone away to commit the same old sins 
again. 

You must quit cursing, dancing, drinking, 
lying, stealing, and adultery, if you expect 
God to forgive you. One night I preached 
from this text in Portsmouth, and at the 
close of the sermon I looked out at the big 
crowd and shouted, ‘‘Men, cut it out.” 
For a moment I had forgotten that the 
expression was street slang, but consoled 
myself with the thought that my crowd 
knew what I was talking about. 

When I extended the invitation to accept 


Confessing to Christ 57 

Christ, a man arose from the back seat, 
hurried down the central aisle, rushed up into 
the pulpit, grasped my hand, and said: “Mr. 
Holcomb, I cut it out.” Then he turned and 
started toward his seat. Then twenty-five 
men arose from different parts of the church, 
shook his hand, and began to cry and hug 
him. One of the officers of the church 
asked me if I knew who the man was. I 
answered: “I thought he must be the mayor 
of the city, as the men made so much over 
him.” He replied: “That man was Billy 
Williams, the biggest' gambler in the city.” 
“Well,” I remarked, “he said, T cut it 
out.’” 

Next morning when I came down to my 
breakfast at the hotel I sat down in a big 
leather chair, and presently a well-dressed 
man came down the stairway. Not seeing 
any one in the lobby, as everybody was at 
breakfast, he picked up a telephone re¬ 
ceiver, and soon a young girl was talking 
with him. He was using very suggestive 


58 Modern Evangelism 

language and I could tell that the young 
girl was trying to get off the line. I said: 
“ Young man, cut it out.” He hung up 
the receiver, came over where I was sitting, 
and said: 4 ‘What have you got to do with 
it?” “Well,” I answered, “it sounds like 
I had a lot to do with it.” Said he: ‘‘Aren’t 
you a traveling man?” I remarked: ‘‘I am 
a traveling preacher.” “By George, you 
don’t look like a preacher to me,” he said. 
I responded: “If I had my collar on back¬ 
wards, a long-tail coat, and a long face, 
I might not have caught you.” 

Said he: “Where do you preach?” I 
answered: “Anywhere in the world where 
I am invited. At present I am preaching at 
the Monumental Methodist Church.” “Are 
you the minister who converted Billy Wil¬ 
liams last night?” I asked: “What do you 
know about Billy Williams?” He said: “I 
ought to know a lot about him, as we have 
been on a big drunk together here in the 
hotel for the last week.” 


Confessing to Christ 59 

We looked out of the window and saw 
Billy Williams coming along the street with 
a new suit of clothes, shoes, and hat, with 
a brand-new suitcase in his hand. We 
stopped him and he came into the hotel. 
When his boon companion spoke, he said: 
“ Billy, have you cut it out?” Billy an¬ 
swered: “Yes.” His old friend asked, 
“Whisky, gambling, and bad women?” 
Billy replied: “Yes, I have given up all these 
sins. Whisky, gambling, and bad women 
ruined my life, and caused me to lose my 
money, my business, and my home.” 

I asked Billy where he was going, and he 
replied that one of our Church members 
had taken him to his home and this morning 
had given him a job as a traveling salesman. 
As we parted his last words were to his old 
companion as he begged him to give up his 
life of sin. I sat down and thought how 
hard it is to be an evangelist and to be away 
from wife and children. It was an awful 
pull at my heart-strings to put the Atlantic 


60 Modern Evangelism 

Ocean between me and my loved ones to 
come and preach here in the Golden City 
of Prague—in this marvelous Hall of Lan¬ 
terns. But one poor sinner like Billy 
Williams saved by the grace of God is worth 
all the sacrifice that ministers can make. 

Presently the porter came to me and 
said: “Mr. Holcomb, that man wants to 
speak to you. I believe he is dying.” I 
asked him where he was. He replied: 
“Behind the refrigerator, on the trash pile.’' 
When I reached the place, the poor fellow 
said: “You and Billy have nearly killed me. 
Billy and I were worth more than $50,000 
apiece, but we began to drink, gamble, and 
go with bad women, until we lost our 
business and money. Our wives had to 
leave us and go back to their mothers and 
our little children had to leave us also.” 

Taking me by the hand, with the tears 
streaming down his dissipated face, he 
asked: “Do you think I could cut it out 
like Billy Williams did?” Pulling him to 


Confessing to Christ 61 

his feet, I said: “No man has ever sunk so 
low but, if he will try, God can save him.” 
Placing his arms around my neck, he shout¬ 
ed: “God helping me, I will cut it out like 
Billy Williams did.” Therefore if you will 
give up your sins, God will save you. “If 
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness.” 




IV 

WORK WELL DONE 


Preached in the Golden City of Prague , to 
Our English Congregation in the Historic 
Churchy St. Martins in the Wally 
Erected in 1178 



P HILIP saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, 
and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have 
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not 
known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the 
Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? 
Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Fath¬ 
er in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not 
of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he 
doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, 
and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very 
work’s sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that 
believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also: 
and greater works than these shall he do; because I 
go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name, that will I do, that the Father may be 
glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my 
name, I will do it. 


IV 

WORK WELL DONE 


“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have 
finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” 
(John xvii. 4.) 


W E have worked a meaning into the 
word “glory” that Jesus did not 
have in mind. We picture Christ walking 
around Palestine upon bursting sunbeams 
with a halo of glory around his head. 
There is no difference much in the dirt in 
Palestine and in Czecho-Slovakia. Christ 
did not have any kind of halo around his 
head. Our church artists have led us astray 
at this point. 

Suppose we drop the word “glory” and 
substitute “honor.” This will' help us a 
little. And yet the word “honor” carries a 
meaning which few people catch. We 
instinctively think of great men like ex- 
President Woodrow Wilson and President 
5 (65) 


66 Modem Evangelism 

Thomas Masaryk and their wonderful 
achievements. Then we gasp for breath, 
shrug our shoulders, and say that such honor 
is only for a few men, every now and then. 

We will drop the word “honor” and 
substitute the word “duty.” This is an 
everyday word that we hear in the home, 
school, office, and shop. Every one of us 
knows the meaning of “duty.” 

To illustrate this thought, I will say that 
a young woman is working in one of your 
big stores in Prague. When the hour comes 
to quit work she has a bolt of silk spread out 
on the counter and is cutting away with 
her scissors, and when the gong sounds to 
quit she is just halfway through the pattern. 

Now if she will turn to her customer and 
say^ “You come back in the morning and 
I will finish cutting off the silk dress that 
you have bought and wrap it up for you,” 
she will have done her duty by her firm, 
her customer, and herself. Nobody will 
have any kick coming. Duty is done. 


Work Well Done 67 

But if she smiles and says to the customer, 
'‘Of course, you know it is time to quit, 
but I am a good-natured girl. I will stay 
awhile longer,” and then wraps the parcel 
and hands it over to the customer, she has 
done more than duty required. She has 
honored her firm, her customer, and herself. 

If she gets a still broader smile on her 
face, looks just a little sweeter, and says, 
“I am sure there are other purchases you 
want to make,” the customer smiles and 
replies: “I did want a few trimmings, some 
lining, and some buttons to make my dress.” 

The young saleslady supplies her customer 
with these little extras and asks, “Are you 
quite sure this is all that you wanted to 
buy?” Now she has moved from the plane 
of honor into the realm of glory. She has 
glorified herself, her customer, and her firm. 
We used to think that glorifying one’s self 
was doing something big. It is doing the 
little task in a big way. 

Jesus was making his final report to his 


68 


Modern Evangelism 


Father in heaven. He had not only done 
his duty on the earth—he had gone further 
than duty would demand, and honored him¬ 
self and his Father. He didn’t stop there. 
He went the full length. He pulled out every 
stop of the organ of his being—sending 
forth the melodies and the music to brighten 
and cheer a sad world. He had glorified 
God while here on the earth. 

Church members seem to be satisfied with 
merely doing their duty. They are ready to 
retire and turn the work over to younger 
hands. Doing your “duty” is not retiring 
ground. It is the place to begin to do your 
dead level best. 

Some of you come out Sunday mornings 
and say, “Pastor, I have done my duty. 
Ill see you next Sunday.” If you change 
your mind and return Sunday night, you 
will come to the platform and say, “Well, 
parson, I have honored you with my presence 
to-night.” If you would come out to prayer 
meeting on Wednesday evening, you would 


Work Well Done 


69 


glorify yourself. If prayer meetings In 
Europe are attended as they are in America, 
the Lord knows they need touching up a 
little. 

The next expression in the text is, “On 
the earth.” Somebody is always putting 
religion in the air. I do not object to your 
getting your head up in the sky, but I do 
want you to keep your big feet down on the 
earth. Christianity as preached and prac¬ 
ticed by Christ was for this world. 

When I was a boy I saw a picture of Ben 
Franklin playing with his kite. As it 
fluttered up in the heavens, it was flirting 
with lightning. Ben wound up its string 
and pulled electricity out of the heavens 
and harnessed it on the earth. Our cities 
and homes are lighted and our machinery 
is propelled by this mysterious power. 

Jesus Christ brings religion from heaven 
to earth, from the city of the New Jerusalem 
to the Golden City of Prague, from the man¬ 
sions in heaven to the homes of earth. 


70 Modern Evangelism 

Some folks say they are going to take their 
religion to heaven with them. Your religion 
will take you to heaven—if it is the religion 
of Jesus Christ. None of the human religions 
and pagan religions will get you to heaven. 
The religion of Christian Science may help 
your mind, but it can’t do much for your 
soul. The religion of old Dr. Russell may 
deceive and delude you, but it is not likely 
to make you a saint. Pastor Russell 
preached in my city once and said: “We 
have turned the Atlantic Ocean on hell and 
put it out. Hell is now an extinct volcano.” 
Since then Pastor Russell has died and I 
suspect he is better posted on hell than when 
I heard him. 

This world is the place for us to practice 
Christianity. I heard a distinguished minis¬ 
ter say: 4 ‘When I die I expect God to send 
me on an evangelizing tour to Mars.” I 
replied: “There is enough of evangelistic 
work in this world to keep a minister busy.” 
If you ever expect to save anybody, you 


Work Well Done 


71 


had better go in and out on the meandering 
streets of Prague and work while you live. 
You will never have an opportunity in any 
other world to lead souls to Jesus Christ. 

Some time ago a group of scientists tried 
to connect this earth and Mars with a big 
telephone. They sat all day with the re¬ 
ceiver at their ears holloing, “Hello, hello.” 
Then they listened all night and got dis¬ 
couraged and finally dropped the “o”from 
“hello” and hung up the receiver. They 
declared that they hadn’t heard a word 
during the day or night. While I believe 
much that scientists say, this is one time I 
believed everything that they said. There¬ 
fore, if you want to help anybody, you had 
better connect up with this life. 

The only thing we carry over from our 
service in this world to the world to come 
is our singing. While we preachers expect 
to get to heaven, there won’t be any preach¬ 
ing. There will not be any collection of any 
kind taken over there. This will tickle 


72 Modern Evangelism 

some Americans and Europeans. Singing is 
a sign of victory. When the armistice was 
signed the victor nations got out their tin 
horns, brass bands, and paraded the streets 
of our cities, while the bells rang and the 
engines whistled—releasing a pandemonium 
of noise, sound, and riot. Why? Because 
the world had whipped Germany. When 
Christianity conquers the world and we 
get home to heaven, we are going to sing 
and shout until all heaven joins in praise 
to God as we celebrate the victory over the 
world, the flesh, and the devil. 

Christ says: I have finished the work 
thou gavest me to do.” The “glory” con¬ 
sisted in work well done. Now God has 
given you as definite work to do as he gave 
to Jesus Christ. If you will finish your 
task day by day, then at the end of your 
life you may have the consciousness that 
you have finished the work that God as¬ 
signed you. 

The work that we have to do is threefold. 


Work Well Done 


73 


The first task that Jesus had was physical. 
He was a carpenter in the little town of 
Nazareth. Most people look upon work as 
being of the devil. That is why Bolshevism 
is spreading over Europe to-day. The cry 
everywhere is, “Down with capitalism.” 
Nobody wants a job to-day. Everyone is 
looking for a position. A fellow who is too 
big to fill a job is too small to occupy a 
position. 

The next work that God gives us to do 
is a mental work. I do not find any fault 
with the mental work that men do for them¬ 
selves. Laboring men and leaders of capital 
have used their minds in bettering their 
condition, and there is a more equitable 
distribution of wealth among laborers and 
capitalists. But these same men, whether 
working with brain or brawn, have never 
used their minds in making Christianity a 
vital force in the world. Some men who 
have thought for the spiritual welfare of 
mankind have been martyred. Long ago 


74 Modern Evangelism 

the greatest man that the Czech nation has 
ever produced and the best friend that the 
people of Bohemia had was dragged from 
a cell and burned at a stake. 

But the spirit of John Huss now hovers 
over Czecho-Slovakia, and the religious 
freedom for which he gave his life is a 
priceless heritage to-day. 

The last work that we are expected to do 
is a spiritual undertaking. Man is not only 
physical and mental, but spiritual. Each 
side of his nature must express itself in 
some kind of work. The world is suffering 
to-day from a lack of spiritual efforts. 
There are men and women walking the 
streets of Prague who need spiritual as¬ 
sistance. Drunkards, gamblers, harlots, and 
worldlings are moving in droves from one 
place of amusement and sin to find another 
dive of iniquity, where they can satisfy 
their depraved appetites and passions. The 
Catholic and Protestant churches of Czecho¬ 
slovakia should not be satisfied until they 


Work Well Done 75 

have rescued this wonderful city from the 
power of the devil. 

The best way to die is to follow the 
example of Jesus. His dying words were, 
“ It is finished.” While the redemption of a 
lost world was accomplished, he also had 
in mind finishing the manual, mental, and 
moral work that God had given him to do. 

While in the agony of death on the cruel 
cross, he thought of a dying thief, took 
him out of the hand of the devil, and gave 
him a place by his side in paradise. While 
I like to think of a sinner being saved at the 
last hour of his life, to me it is a more 
glorious thought to think of Christ snatch¬ 
ing the last opportunity to win a lost soul 
to himself. 

When you come to die, the heavens may 
open before your eyes, and you may behold 
the shining ones around the throne and hear 
the songs of the redeemed and glorified— 
but if above and beyond all that glorifies a 
deathbed you can have the assurance that 


76 M.odern Evangelism 

you have finished the work that God gave 
you to do in the world, this will be a more 
glorious way to die. As John Huss said, 
“Into thy hands I commit my spirit,” with 
the assurance that the flames had not ©on- 
sumed his quivering body until he had 
completed his work on earth—this is a 
delightful way to die that no sinner has ever 
known. May your last hour be one in which 
you may fold your hands across your breast 
and say, with the poet: 

“Not a wave of trouble rolls across my peaceful 
breast.” 


V 

CHOOSE CHRIST 


Preached at Warsaw , Poland , in Amerykanska 
Misja jMe tody stow 

Interpreted hy Paul Kowalski , a Native 
of Poland 



A ND Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve 
the Lord: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous 
God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your 
sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, 
then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, 
after that he hath done you good. And the people said 
unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord. And 
Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against 
yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve 
him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now there¬ 
fore put away, said he, the strange gods which are 
among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God 
of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord 
our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. 


V 

CHOOSE CHRIST 


" Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” 
(Joshua xxiv. 15.) 

FTER the services which have pre- 



XA- ceded I feel that the hour has come 
when you should choose Christ as your own 
Saviour. 

You have reached the forks of the road 
and do not know which way to go. If you 
stand still, you are doomed; if you go back, 
the night of superstition will encircle you; 
if you take the wrong way, you grope in 
darkness the remainder of your life. There 
is but one safe course—choose the way of 
Christ. Follow him regardless of the con¬ 
sequence. This is God’s command. We 
must obey him even though we do not under¬ 
stand all that is involved. Therefore, cross 
the bridge and burn it, as if pursued by an 
approaching army; and never retrace your 
steps. Rest your soul in the thought of 
having made the right decision. 


( 79 ) 


80 Modern Evangelism 

The first word in the text is “choose.’* 
I hold in my hand a key, a knife, and a 
Bible. Can you choose between three 
objects? No, you can only choose between 
two objects. Now, I lay aside the Bible and 
hold the knife and key. You can choose 
between these. Do you see the difference? 
If so, answer me “Yes.” I thank you. 

As the word “choose” is used in our text 
we must decide between Jesus and the devil. 
There is nothing else to do. Now, let us 
take a look at Jesus Christ and the devil to 
see which one we prefer. Did you ever see 
a picture of the devil? Did he have an 
ugly face, with horns on the side of his head, 
with pointed chin, a long arrow-like tail, 
cloven hoofs, and talon-like claws? Yes, 
I see you recognize him. The devil looks 
the same to everybody; he looks the same 
to a philosopher and to a peasant. The 
great poet Coleridge said: 


‘The devil is in a jacket of red and breeches of blue, 
And a round hole for his tail to come through.” 


Choose Christ 


81 


I am sure every one of you has seen a 
portrait or a painting of Jesus Christ. It 
represented Jesus as being great, good, and 
gracious. His wonderful love was also 
depicted in every line of his careworn face. 
There is quite a contrast between Christ 
and Satan. Which do you like better? 
Suppose you answer me again. I am glad 
that you like the looks of Jesus better than 
the devil. 

Did you ever hear anything good about 
the devil? No; there is nothing good to say 
about him. He is the father of sin. Such 
sins as lying, stealing, drinking, gambling, 
and all other sins originated with him. 
The Bible says: “Ye are of your father the 
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: 
he was a murderer from the beginning, and 
abode not in the truth, because there is no 
truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he 
speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and 
the father of it.” (John viii. 44.) 

Did you ever hear any one say a bad 

6 


82 Modern Evangelism 

thing about Jesus Christ? You have heard 
bad things about priests, and perhaps other 
preachers, but a man would have to be very 
low and mean to say anything ugly about 
Jesus. We have heard only good things 
about him. He is the one who lived without 
sin, went about doing good, loved and 
helped everybody, and finally went to 
Calvary and died on the cross for the world. 

Now, as I have pictured Jesus and Satan 
before you, which one do you want to serve? 
Will you be the abject slave of the devil, 
or the free servant of Jesus? Those of you 
who will say, “I want to serve Jesus,” 
raise your hand. That is right. Thank you. 
Now hold yourself to this decision. 

There are two ways—the broad way and 
the narrow way. At the entrance of the 
broad way is the wide gate and many people 
enter it because it is so easy; at the entrance 
of the narrow way is the strait gate. There 
are not so many who will go through it, be¬ 
cause it is quite difficult. The narrow gate 


Choose Christ 


83 


is so small that you cannot enter if you are 
holding back even one pet sin. You can go 
the broad way and carry all your sins. 

Now, the devil heads the procession in 
the broad way. All sorts of people follow 
him—drunkards, gamblers, liars, thieves, 
harlots, and bolshevists. Do you want to 
go with that gang? Please answer “Yes” 
or “No.” Good for you. Matthew vii. 
13 reads: “For wide is the gate, and broad 
is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and 
many there be which go in thereat.” 

Jesus leads the forces in the narrow way. 
He takes them through the strait gate. 
Only the good people follow Jesus in the 
narrow way. Let us look and see who they 
are and what they do. In America our 
Pilgrim Fathers and their families traveled 
in the narrow way. President Harding and 
Woodrow Wilson go the narrow way. In 
our Declaration of Independence the name 
of God and Religious Liberty are spelled 
with capital letters. 


84 Modern Evangelism 

We will not elect a man Governor or 
President who does not believe in Jesus 
Christ. In America Protestant churches 
are on the front streets and other churches 
take the back streets. These are some of the 
things that make America great. 

The Methodists, with their relief work 
feeding the hungry and clothing the naked 
here in Poland, are in the narrow way. Our 
Methodist schools, where you get a Chris¬ 
tian education, and our Methodist or¬ 
phanages, where we take care of your 
little children and those whose parents may 
have been killed during the war—these are 
located along the narrow way. Methodist 
Christians are trying to undo the works of 
the devil and give everybody a chance to 
lead the Christian life. Few people go in 
the narrow way because they are unwilling 
to pay the price of sacrifice. However, I 
want to be one of the few—don’t you? 
Remember, Matthew vii. 14 says: “Enter 
ye in at the strait gate; because strait is the 


Choose Christ 85 

gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth 
unto life, and few there be that find it.” 

Some people say that they are not good 
enough to be in the narrow way and are 
not bad enough to be in the broad way. 
There is no neutral ground. You are either 
in the narrow way, going to heaven; or you 
are in the broad way, going to hell. If you 
are about half good and half bad, Jesus 
gives the devil the advantage of the doubt 
and puts you on the devil’s side. Listen 
to the words of Christ in Matthew xii. 30: 
“He that is not with me is against me; 
and he that gathereth not with me scattereth 
abroad.” 

At the end of the broad and narrow ways 
there are two places—heaven and hell. 
Heaven is at the end of the narrow way, 
while hell is at the end of the broad way. 
Now you see, if you follow Jesus, you will 
go to heaven when you die. If you follow the 
devil, you will certainly go to hell. There 
is nowhere else for you to go. Once you are 


86 Modem Evangelism 

there you will never get out. Hell is not a 
purgatory, where you have a second chance. 
Dante said: “All hope abandon, ye who 
enter here.” You will want to get out, but 
there will be no way of escape. Stay out 
while you are out. 

On the other hand, if you choose Christ 
as your Saviour, and walk by faith in the 
narrow way, you will spend eternity in 
heaven. Jesus will give you the best of this 
life, if you will serve him here; and in 
the world to come he will give you a place 
with himself. Mark x. 29, 30 says: “And 
Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto 
you, There is no man that hath left house, 
or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 
or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, 
and the gospel’s, but he shall receive a 
hundredfold now in this time, houses, and 
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and 
children, and lands, with persecutions; and 
in the world to come eternal life.” 

Notice, please, the expression, “for my 


Choose Christ 


87 


sake, and the gospel’s.” We must not 
follow Christ just to get food, clothes, or 
a job, but because it is right. And the 
other expression, also—“with persecutions” 
—teaches us that we may have to suffer 
for choosing Christ. Some of you dear 
people have already had to break with your 
fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, 
since you made this choice. God bless you. 
If you break with the Romish Church and 
join the Methodist Church, you may be 
denied a religious marriage, you may be 
refused the communion, you have no promise 
of a burial in a cemetery, and may be 
dumped in the potter’s field; but Jesus 
will know where to find you in the resur¬ 
rection, and he will give you a place at the 
right hand of the Father. 

Now, I have preached about everything 
in the text except two words. Can you tell 
me what they are? Find them while I 
read the text slowly: “Choose you this day 
whom ye will serve.” Ah, yes, I thank 


88 Modern Evangelism 

you. “This day.” That means to choose 
now. You cannot put it off till to-morrow. 
James iv. 14: “Whereas ye know not what 
shall be on the morrow. For what is your 
life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth 
for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” 
And you may not be alive to-morrow. 

St. Paul says: “Behold, now is the ac¬ 
cepted time; behold, now is the day of 
salvation.” You ought not to leave this 
Mission until you make up your mind to be 
a Christian. You say that you do not 
understand it in your mind, and cannot feel 
it in your heart. Just decide anyway, 
whether you understand or feel. There 
are many things that we do not understand, 
and salvation is not feeling. It is a question 
of choice, surrender, and faith. In the 
language of the song, say: 

“Here, Lord, I give myself to thee: 

'Tis all that I can do.” 

At the close of my first service in Dallas, 
Tex., a young man put his arms around me, 


Choose Christ 


89 


weeping, and said: “Mr. Holcomb, when 
you were a college student in Virginia, 
you came out to our country Sunday school 
and made a talk on ‘Choosing Christ.’ My. 
little twin brother and I, with our bare feet 
and homemade clothes, gave you our hand 
and chose Jesus as our Saviour. Some¬ 
time after that our precious mother died, 
and I do not know what would have be¬ 
come of brother and myself if we had not 
chosen Jesus.” Continuing, he said: “ Father 
moved to Texas and brother and I finished 
in the high school. He secured a position 
with the Cotton Belt Railway and is now 
president of the Epworth League in Cen¬ 
tenary Church, St. Louis. I got a position 
with the president of the Dallas Morning 
News and am at the head of the Epworth 
League work in the First Methodist Church 
in Dallas.” Then he continued: “There 
has not been a day since you led us to Jesus 
that we have not knelt in prayer and prayed 
for you. I could hardly wait for your 


90 Modern Evangelism 

meeting to begin to tell you what Jesus 
Christ has meant to our home. Brother 
and I have decided that, if all the world 
should turn away from Jesus Christ, we 
will be true to him till the end. All that 
we have and are we attribute to the de¬ 
cision that we made when we chose him as 
our Saviour.’’ 

If you should search the world over, I 
do not believe that you could find two finer 
young men. Won’t you choose Jesus as 
your Saviour? Then, in years to come, you 
may look back to this hour of decision as 
the turning point in your life not only for 
godliness, but for greatness. 

“If Jesus Christ is a man— 

And only a man—I say 
That of ail mankind I cleave to him, 

And to him will I cleave alway. 

If Jesus Christ is a God— 

And the only God—I swear 
I will follow him through heaven and hell, 
The earth, the sea, and the air!” 


VI 

AN ERRING BROTHER 


"Preached at Prague , Ancient Capital of Bohemia , 
in “Velky Sal Lucema * 

Interpreted by Josef Doles , ^ Native 
Bohemian 



A ND Jesus answering said, A certain man went 
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among 
thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded 
him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by- 
chance there came down a certain priest that way: and 
when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came 
and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where 
he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on 
him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, 
pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, 
and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And 
on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two 
pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, 
Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, 
when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of 
these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that 
fell among thieves? And he said, He that showeth 
mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and 
do thou likewise. 


VI 

AN ERRING BROTHER 


“Brethren, if any of you do err from the 
truth, and one convert him; let him know, 
that he which converteth the sinner from the 
error of his way shall save a soul from death, 
and shall hide a multitude of sins.” (Jas. v. 
19 , 20 .) 


W HEN the first man was lost in 
the world, God sought him and 
inquired, “‘ Adam, where art thou?” When 
the first man was missing from the earth, 
God found his brother and asked, “Cain, 
where is Abel thy brother?” When two 
men appeared in the world, there was 
born individual responsibility for each other. 

But the world is still asking with stinging 
sarcasm, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 
Like Cain, we are our brother’s slayer 
rather than his keeper. In America there 
are one million drug addicts. There are 
thousands suffering from the evils of in¬ 
temperance. There are four million dis- 

( 93 ) 


94 Modern Evangelism 

abilities a year from accidents. How many 
millions of dope fiends, depraved women, 
inebriates, and war casualties can Europe 
add to the list of unfortunates? 

Europe has just emerged from a war of 
wholesale and massed murder. Now, the 
Churches are trying to establish a world 
brotherhood. This brotherhood will be 
realized when everybody plays the part of 
a brother. 

No erring brother ever gets too low to be 
a man. It matters not how rough he may 
be on the outside, he still may have a 
golden heart. Rags sometimes cover roy¬ 
alty. The reason I love Robert Burns is 
because he wrote 

“A man’s a man for a’ that.*’ 

Our text is addressed to brethren about 
their erring brothers: “Brethren, if any 
of you do err from the truth.” It is easy 
for a good person to go wrong. Alexander 
Pope said: 

“To err is human, to forgive divine.” 


95 


An Erring Brother 

Our erring brothers are very human and we 
want them to share the divinity of for¬ 
giveness. 

Through reading bad literature and as¬ 
sociating with evil companions, we get an 
erroneous idea of life. When we forsake the 
fundamental teachings of the Bible, and 
run off after the philosophy of sinful men, 
we are erring from the truth as it is in 
Christ. 

We shall make two trips through the 
text: First, as an exploring party to see 
what we can find. The first thing we dig 
up is “error.” “If any of you do err from 
the truth.” This is a small beginning. Error 
is a tiny speck on the brain. The Vistula 
River starts with a little spring on the other 
side of the Carpathian Mountains, but 
deepens and widens as it crosses Poland, 
until it empties into the Baltic Sea. A 
sinful idea may start in the mind and per¬ 
meate the entire life. The place to be on 
guard is at the threshold of the mind. 


96 Modern Evangelism 

The second thing that we find is “sin.” 
We discover this fact by implication. The 
text discloses this implied truth. “Let him 
know, that he which converteth the sinner 
from the error of his way.” An error in the 
mind will develop into sin in the life. It 
is said: “It makes no difference what you 
believe, just so you live right.” It does 
makes a difference; you cannot think wrong 
and live right. 

The Niagara River has a place known as 
the dead line. Above this line you can row 
a little boat with safety. But if your boat 
crosses the dead line, you will be carried by 
the whirling waters over the big falls and 
hurled against the bowlders below, resulting 
in certain death. Once sin gets a good start 
in your heart, it will break out in your life 
and you will be swept along to sure de¬ 
struction. 

The third discovery we make is that of 
“a multitude of sins.” The text says, 
“Shall hide a multitude of sins.” It is 


An Erring Brother 97 

alarming how fast sin will accumulate and 
pile up. After a few years of constant 
sinning, a man will behold a multitude of 
mountain-like sins in his life. They may 
get him in such a place that it is almost 
impossible for him to extricate himself. 
The load may become so heavy that he will 
feel that life is not worth living. Many a 
sinner has been driven to the prison cell or 
the gallows by the sins that had gathered 
about him. Others have committed suicide 
as they have been surrounded by sin. As 
sins multiply the coil tightens around the 
condemned sinner. 

The last revelation is the nearness of hell. 
Listen to these fearful words: “Shall save 
a soul from death.” As you are going the 
downward way—pushed on by the momen¬ 
tum of your sins—the gate of hell is near by 
and stands wide open. No wonder that so 
many persons are losing their immortal 
souls. If you have passed by the mile¬ 
posts of error, sinner, big sinner—the dump- 

7 


98 Modern Evangelism 

ing ground is in sight, where lost sinners 
spend eternity. God pity a man who has 
gone all the gaits of sin and is so near the 
gate of destruction. Along this road the 
lights go out—on the way to hell, where 
the sinner enters into outer darkness. 

Now let us make another trip down 
through the text. The first time we shall 
go as a wrecking crew. There has been a 
wreck down the line. Men, women, and 
children are bruised, bleeding, and dying. 
Then, let us go as a rescuing party. Human 
beings are out in the deep water. One by 
one they are sinking, drowning, and perish¬ 
ing. And last we shall go as a Red Cross 
corps. Men have been wounded, maimed, 
and mangled. The agonizing cry for help 
comes from the parched throats. We must 
hasten and hurry to their rescue before 
they despair, perish, or die. 

Here is where we can act the part of a 
brother. “ Brethren, if any of you do err 
from the truth, and one convert him.” It 


An Erring Brother 99 

is the work of Christian brothers to con¬ 
vert their wandering brothers. We must 
change the wrong ideas of men to right ideas. 
We must lift them from low ideals to lofty 
ideals—that is, convert them from the 
error of their ways. It requires a personal 
touch and a human effort. 

While the Allies were fighting in Europe 
for their very existence, our American 
people at first were so opposed to war that 
they did not believe in fighting. President 
Woodrow Wilson made a speech on “Pre¬ 
paredness.” The papers published it through¬ 
out the nation. He urged us to place 
our American boys by the side of the boys 
of Belgium, Italy, France, and England— 
where many of your noble Czechs were 
fighting—and that speech converted Amer¬ 
ica to come to the rescue of Europe. 

If a statesman can take political facts 
and change people, I believe Christian 
people can take the truths of the Bible, 
energized by the Holy Spirit, and convert 



100 Modern Evangelism 

people from sin and superstition to the 
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. O that 
Christian people would start on a converting 
crusade and bring this old lost world back 
to the Bible, back to the Church, and back 
to God. 

As an incentive to work for the salvation 
of souls, the text suggests two things: 
First, we shall help our brother to rid him¬ 
self of sin; second, we shall save a soul from 
being lost. Let me read this part of the 
text: “And shall save a soul from death, 
and shall hide a multitude of sins. ,, There 
is no greater work that you can do for your 
neighbor than that. 

A doctor has done a big thing when he 
saves your body from disease and death; 
a professor has done a greater work when 
he saves your mind from ignorance and 
illiteracy; but a Christian has done the 
biggest thing when he saves your soul from 
sin and hell. You may forget the doctor 
who healed you, the professor who taught 


101 


An Erring Brother 

you, but you will never forget the Christian 
who saved you. The most permanent 
service that you can render is to help one 
of your neighbors to become a Christian. 

In the story of the Good Samaritan we 
find one man playing a brother’s part. 
Along the rough road from Jerusalem to 
Jericho an unfortunate man fell among 
thieves and robbers. They had stripped him 
and left him for dead. 

A priest came along and was unwilling 
to help him, as this did not come within 
his official duties, and perhaps as there 
were no earthly eyes to see the act and 
reward him. 

Then came along a Levite. He looked 
upon him in his helpless condition and 
turned a cold shoulder to him in his hour of 
helplessness. He merely satisfied his sordid 
curiosity, and was less generous than the 
passing priest. 

Finally, a Samaritan came along the way, 
saw him, and was moved to compassion. 


102 Modern Evangelism 

He applied simple remedies as he bound up 
his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Then 
he set him on his own beast and brought 
him to the inn. He paid for his lodging 
for several days. Before leaving, he said 
to the innkeeper: “Take care of him: and 
whatsoever thou spendest more, when I 
come again, I will repay thee.” His spon¬ 
taneous pity showed that he had a heart. 
The world is wounded by the evil passions 
of unscrupulous men. We need a Good 
Samaritan to come along the pathway of 
life and bind up the wounds of the world. 

There is something in the heart of man 
which responds to the service that Chris¬ 
tianity imposes upon the followers of Christ. 
A few evenings ago, while I was preaching 
to you, and those of you on the first floor 
had your faces turned upward and those 
of you in the galleries had your faces turned 
downward—while all of you were leaning 
forward listening—I saw a man away up 
yonder in the top gallery arise and start 


103 


An 'Erring Brother 

off. I was sorry, because I had not seen 
any one leave the building during a service. 
I wanted to tell our people, when I returned 
to America, how anxious you are to hear 
the gospel. 

A few minutes later I looked up and 
noticed him walking about on the second 
balcony. As I continued to preach, he 
disappeared. Again, I saw him wending his 
way around the marble stairway of the first 
balcony. Later he appeared on the steps 
leading down to the first floor of this hall. 
Then I saw him coming down the long cen¬ 
tral aisle. 

I began to wonder what he had in mind. 
I thought perhaps I had offended him, and 
that he was coming to the front to do me 
bodily harm. As he walked toward me I 
continued to preach to you. I watched 
every movement he made. But while 
preaching I thought of my wife and children 
on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. 
I recalled the last words I heard my baby 


104 Modern Evangelism 

girl say to her little brother—‘* We’ll never 
see our papa any more”—as I kissed them 
good-by. 

I knew there are cranks in Prague just as 
there are cranks in America. I remembered 
that preachers and priests had been shot 
at the altars of the church. 

When he got near, I saw his hands swing¬ 
ing by his side and tears filling his eyes. 
Then I knew that he did not wish to harm 
me. When a man comes forward during 
preaching with tears in his eyes, I know he 
does not carry a gun in his pocket to kill the 
preacher. 

As he extended his hand, you heard him 
say in your own Czech language, “I was so 
hungry for your Christ that I could not 
wait until you finished preaching.” Then 
one after another arose in different parts 
of the building and came around the front. 
That scene was more like Pentecost than 
anything I have witnessed, either in America 
or Europe. That was the most blessed in- 


105 


An Erring Brother 

terruption I have had during my ministry. 
The tears that I saw flowing down your 
cheeks, and the handkerchiefs that wiped 
away those sympathizing tears, will be an 
inspiration to me the remainder of my life. 
His coming and our rejoicing were the 
responses of our hearts to the call of Christ 
for service. 

While poor old Europe is prostrated and 
confusion is everywhere—with much of 
poverty and penury—the biggest thing you 
can do is to consecrate your life to God and 
win the souls of your lost brothers to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Let us hold out a helping 
hand to our tired, sick, weary, and weak, 
but hungry, brothers—hungry for that Liv¬ 
ing Bread. 













VII 

SCARLET SINS 


Preached in Bruxelles , Belgique , the Methodist 

Mission to Our Flemish Congregation 

Interpreted hy W. G. Thonger , a Frenchman 



H AVE mercy upon me, O God, according to thy 
lovingkindness: according unto the multitude 
of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me 
from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: 
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, 
have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou 
mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear 
when thou judgest. 

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean! wash me, 
and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine 
iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and 
renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away 
from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from 
me. 

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken 
and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise. 


VII 

SCARLET SINS 


“Come now, and let us reason together, 
saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow; though they 
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” 
(Isa. i. 18.) 



OD is a reasonable Being. He may 


VJ not follow the law of reasoning like 
man—but may reach conclusions intuitively 
—more like the process of a woman's rea¬ 
soning. 

God wants us to be reasonable human 
beings. The right kind of thinking will 
make us reasonable. “Let us reason to¬ 
gether, saith the Lord." When we reason 
together, we reason reasonably. When we 
reason unreasonably, we reason apart. God 
wants you to reason with him, so that he 
and you may get together. 

God asks us for a conference with him¬ 
self. Some people have thought that God 


( 109 ) 


110 Modern Evangelism 

sat upon an imperial throne cracking a whip 
over his slave subjects. That was more 
like the ex-Kaiser of Berlin, who wanted 
to push his throne higher and make his 
whip longer and crack it louder, until it 
was heard throughout the world. There¬ 
fore he considered the Treaty with Belgium 
as a “scrap of paper” and sent his army 
through your little country, leaving dev¬ 
astation and death in its path. 

When America realized his unworthy am¬ 
bition for world conquest, it joined the 
Allies in their effort to destroy militarism. 
While the world says, “America turned 
the tide in the war,” I want to assure you 
that little Belgium held back the ongoing 
tide until Great Britain, France, and Amer¬ 
ica, with the other Allies, could stop the 
wave of destruction. 

God is not like the Kaiser, who escaped 
to Holland, or like Napoleon, who was 
exiled to St. Helena. This afternoon I 
stood on the battle field of Waterloo, where 


Scarlet Sins 


111 


Napoleon had his ambition wrecked for 
world conquest. Everywhere I looked, I 
seemed to read the words of Victor Hugo: 
“Napoleon had been impeached before the 
Infinite and his fall was decreed. He vexed 
God. Was it possible that Napoleon should 
win this battle? We answer: No! Why? 
Because of Wellington ? Because of Blucher? 
No! Because of God.” Thus far and no 
farther was the decree of God. 

God does not want people slaughtered. 
God is more like our earthly father than 
these grasping, murderous monarchs. He 
loves us and wants to protect our lives— 
not destroy them. 

I like the democracy of the Declaration 
of Independence, but I like the democracy 
of the Bible better. I love the democracy 
of Woodrow Wilson, but I love the democ¬ 
racy of Jesus Christ better. The democracy 
of Belgium and King Albert stirs me, but the 
democracy of the kingdom of God and 
Jesus Christ thrills me through and through. 


112 Modem Evangelism 

We do not need any one to come between 
us and God. If you were to visit my country, 
it would be a little difficult for you to see 
my President. I should like to meet your 
democratic King, but this would be quite 
difficult. I would have to have somebody 
to act as go-between; but to meet God, we do 
not need any one to act as intermediary. 
The humblest person has as free access to 
God as any king or potentate. I like that 
in God. I love God for that. 

God wants to reason with us concerning 
our sins. “Though your sins,” saith the 
Lord. Jesus knows that sin is at the bottom 
of all our troubles. If he can straighten us 
out on the question of sin, he will have no 
trouble with us on any other question. 
Many a man has lost his job on account of 
sin. Men are locked behind prison doors 
who might be at home with their families, 
had it not been for the sins that they com¬ 
mitted against society. The poverty in 
Europe on account of the World War is a 


Scarlet Sins 


113 


direct result of the sins of nations. God is 
anxious to go on to the taproot of all our 
troubles. 

While Jesus Christ is interested in feeding, 
clothing, and sheltering us, he is more 
interested in cleansing our hearts from sin, 
feeding our souls on the bread of life, and 
clothing us with his garments of righteous¬ 
ness. We are thankful to God for these 
daily necessities, but we must show our 
gratitude by receiving his spiritual benefits 
also. 

God is also willing to confer with you as 
to how you got into a life of sin. It may 
have been through ignorance, as you may 
not have had a Bible to read for yourself. 
Perhaps it has been through superstition, 
as you have heard more of that than you 
have of the sinfulness of sin. In some 
instances sin has been more of an accident 
than a willful act on your part. But we are 
guilty before God, regardless of how sin 
entered into our hearts and lives. Therefore 
8 


114 Modern Evangelism 

we must feel our personal responsibility 
for sin and not place the blame upon any 
one else. Then there is hope of our for¬ 
giveness by Jesus Christ. 

The best of all is that God is anxious to 
talk with us about our worst sins. “Though 
they be as scarlet; though they be red like 
crimson.” The streets of Brussels are 
crowded with scarlet women. By their 
side are crimson men, who go with them into 
the way of hell. In high places, among the 
prominent and wealthy, there are men and 
women with rings, bracelets, lavallieres , 
watches, and necklaces—studded with dia¬ 
monds and other precious stones—whose 
sins are as crimson as the sapphire, garnet, 
and ruby stones that bedeck their de¬ 
bauched bodies. O that your character 
might be as fragrant as the flowers of 
Flanders! 

Our sins are of varied colors, running from 
the crimson type to the most bloody hue. 
Jesus Christ, however, will help us out of 


Scarlet Sins 


115 


our degradation and shame. If you commit 
some of these scarlet sins, the police will 
hunt, hound, and haunt you till they put 
you in prison or to death. But God pur¬ 
sues your sins and follows you that he may 
forgive you—instead of making you suffer 
for your wrongdoing. God had rather 
forgive your sin than to punish you for sin. 

God is not satisfied until he reasons with 
us about the way to get rid of our sins. 
While he is concerned about everything 
that hurts or helps us, the greatest anxiety 
of his loving heart is to be able to free us 
from the galling yoke of sin. Listen again 
to the words of the text: “They shall be as 
white as snow; they shall be as wool.” 
These words show us how God removes the 
guilt of our crimson sins. Like a slaughtered 
lamb, with blood clots of wool around its 
stabbed heart, whose crimson wool is washed 
in the fuller’s soap and made white, fleecy, 
and snowy—so God will take our sin- 
stained lives and wash them whiter than 


116 Modern Evangelism 

the snow. “The blood of Jesus Christ his 
Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 

There have been three conferences held 
in heaven. The first was presided over by 
God our Father, when he decided to make 
man in his moral likeness. In the garden of 
Eden he made the first man and the first 
woman. They were happy until the old 
devil, in the form of the slimy serpent, 
crawled into the garden and climbed up 
into the tree of knowledge and tempted 
Adam and Eve to distrust and disobey God. 

Their conscience drove them from the 
presence of the Lord, and an angel with a 
flaming sword guarded the entrance. Since 
then man has lived by the sweat of his 
brow. All the sorrows of life and the horrors 
of war can be traced back to sin. Europe 
is now suffering from the consequence of 
sin. 

The other conference was held at the 
suggestion of Jesus Christ, the only be¬ 
gotten and well-beloved Son of the Father. 


Scarlet Sins 


117 


As the law of God had been broken by man's 
sin, some one had to pay the penalty. The 
offending sinner should have suffered the 
consequence and penalty of his sin. The 
death sentence should have been passed 
upon the sinner. 

In conferring with God, our Saviour 
Jesus Christ proposed to come to this world 
and take upon himself our nature and form, 
and die in our place and for our sin. In 
John iii. 16 we read: “For God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." Jesus 
did not die to make God love us, but died 
because God loved us. God has always 
loved the sinner. The great love of the 
Father sent Jesus Christ to our rescue; and, 
because of the love of Jesus, he came to re¬ 
deem us on the cross with his own precious 
blood. He has returned to the Father in 
heaven and is still interceding for us. It 
was a mutual love. 


118 Modern Evangelism 

The last conference was under the guid¬ 
ance of God, the Holy Spirit. While men 
had been redeemed through Christ, it would 
avail nothing unless Christ became a per¬ 
sonal Saviour to those who have been in¬ 
cluded in his death on the cross. Therefore 
the Holy Spirit, at the suggestion of Christ, 
came into the world to remain with us 
always. Before Christ went away he said: 
“It is expedient for you that I go away: 
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not 
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send 
him unto you.” (John xvi. 7.) 

The Holy Spirit is with us to convict of sin. 
When we feel a sense of guilt, that is the 
Holy Spirit speaking to us. We should obey 
his voice and repent of our sins. If we will 
confess them to Christ—not men—the Holy 
Spirit will give us new hearts, and we will 
find it easy to lead the Christian life. 

We finish with the first expression in the 
text, “Come now.” This closes the argu¬ 
ment—not opens it. All the facts are in. 


Scarlet Sins 


119 


We are sinners. Jesus is a Saviour. The 
way is open for acquittal. Will you let the 
jury bring in a verdict—“Not guilty”? 

We have now come to the most important 
part of my message. Unless you will ap¬ 
propriate the work of Christ on the cross, 
it will amount to nothing so far as you are 
concerned. The only way that Jesus Christ 
can save us is by applying to our hearts the 
blood that he shed for our sins. This does 
not mean that at the Lord’s Supper the 
bread and wine are the real body and the 
real blood of Jesus Christ, but they repre¬ 
sent his sacrifice for our sins. By faith in 
Jesus Christ we apply his atonement for our 
sins. His blood means his life. He gave his 
life as a ransom for sin. 

As we have sinned and sin has stained 
us with guilt, we need to be cleansed by the 
preciuos blood. As we have been poisoned, 
we need the remedy which Christ has pro¬ 
vided for us. If we will accept it, we shall 
be healed of our diseased condition. 


120 Modern Evangelism 

There is no other hope of cleansing and 
healing. Water cannot wash away the 
stains of sin. Time cannot ease an outraged 
conscience. Shakespeare makes Lady Mac¬ 
beth say: 

“Yet here’s a spot. 

Out, damned spot! out, I say! 

What! will these hands ne’er be clean? 

Here’s the smell of the blood still: 

All the perfumes of Arabia 

Will not sweeten this little hand.” 

Our scarlet and crimson sins are double- 
dyed in guilt—dipped twice in the crimson 
cesspool of iniquity. To remove them will 
require a plunge into li1 the fountain opened 
for sin and uncleanness.” 

In Revelation xxii. 17 Jesus said: “And 
let him that is athirst come. And who¬ 
soever will, let him take the water of life 
freely.” As you would take a glass of water 
from the hand of your friend, so you must 
take the water of life from the pierced hand 
of Jesus Christ—the sinner's friend. 

In America, where I live, one day I was 


Scarlet Sins 


121 


in Atlanta, the biggest city in my State. 
Starting up in an elevator in one of our 
skyscrapers, the elevator boy saw a mother 
weeping, as she held a little baby crying in • 
her arms. She begged him to lower the lift 
and take her up on that trip. The kind- 
hearted black boy reversed the lever and 
dropped the elevator to the first floor. 

When the mother with her baby entered 
the elevator, I saw the blood, around the 
baby’s upper lip, oozing from a torn hole, 
that looked as if it had been punctured by a 
dull awl. I inquired, “ Mother, what has 
happened to the baby’s lip?” With the tears 
streaming down her cheeks and with a 
tremor in her voice, she said: “A mad dog 
bit my baby in the mouth and I am trying to 
get to a remedy.” We have been bitten by 
the old mad dog—the devil—and unless we 
get to Jesus Christ, the remedy, we shall 
all likewise perish. 
















VIII 

OUR SALVATION 


Preached in Danzig, Free State , Immanuel 
Gemeindehaus der Methodistenkirche 

Interpreted by S. Rasmussen , a German 



A ND a certain man lame from his mother’s womb 
was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of 
the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of 
them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter 
and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 
And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, 
Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting 
to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver 
and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: 
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and 
walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted 
him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones 
received strength. And he leaping up stood, and 
walked, and entered with them into the temple, walk¬ 
ing, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people 
saw him walking and praising God. 


VIII 

OUR SALVATION 

“What must I do to be saved?” 

“ Repentance toward God, and faith toward 
our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

T HE world is asking two big questions: 

“What must civilization do to be 
saved?” “What must Christianity do to 
be saved ?” This includes the salvation of 
nations and denominations. If the individ¬ 
ual is saved, the Church will be saved. 
If the Church is saved, the world will be 
saved. 

A bigger and more basic question is, 
“What must I do to be saved?” This first 
text is the only complete question relating 
to personal salvation. While there are 
other verses that raise the question of 
salvation, this is the only one that fully 
asks it. 

On the day of Pentecost, amid the out- 

(125) 


126 


Modem Evangelism 

pouring of the Holy Spirit, the convicted 
sinners asked, “What shall we do?” In 
their half-surprised, half-dazed, and half- 
confused condition, they asked an incom¬ 
plete question. The convicted Roman jailer 
sounded the depths of his soul when he in¬ 
quired, “What must I do to be saved?” 

Our second Scripture is the only com¬ 
plete answer in the Bible bearing on man’s 
salvation. “Repentance toward God, and 
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” On 
the day of Pentecost Peter said: “Repent, 
and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
sins.” He emphasized repentance to those 
Jews whose hands were still bloody from 
crucifying Jesus. He said nothing about 
faith, because he knew that they had to 
repent before they could believe. 

The Apostle Paul in dealing with the 
Roman jailer said nothing about repentance, 
but urged faith in Jesus Christ. The reason 
was, the jailer had already repented, and 


Our Salvation 


127 


there was no use urging him to repent. 
What he needed was to believe, therefore 
Paul said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” But 
faith is just half of the condition of personal 
salvation. The complete answer is summed 
up in Paul’s words: “Repentance toward 
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Christ.” 

The question indicates the necessity of 
doing something. While Protestantism does 
not require any kind of penance as does 
Roman Catholicism, most people impose a 
penance upon themselves. We must do 
“repentance”—not “penance.” There is 
no part of petty penance that will amount 
to the snap of your finger. Martin Luther 
crawled on his hands and knees up the steps 
of St. Peter’s, at Rome, in an effort to get 
rid of his sins, but found the burden heavier 
when he reached the top of the steps. He 
returned home, nailed his theses on the door 
of the cathedral at Wittenberg, and redis- 


128 Modem Evangelism 

covered to the world—“The just must live 
by faith.” Repentance is a change of mind 
rather than a change of task. 

There are two kinds of repentance. One 
is a godly repentance; the other is a worldly 
repentance. Everybody repents sometime 
in life. But it may not be toward God. It 
can be toward the world. When he had 
sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, Judas 
Iscariot repented toward the world, and 
went out and hanged himself. When a 
fellow commits suicide, he repents like 
Judas. But when Simon Peter denied 
Jesus, he went out and wept bitterly, 
repented toward God, was forgiven, and 
joined the other disciples in their work. 

That was godly repentance. In 2 Corin¬ 
thians vii. 10 St. Paul says: “For godly 
sorrow worketh repentance to salvation 
not to be repented of: but the sorrow of 
the world worketh death.” Godly repent¬ 
ance produces humility; worldly repentance 
produces humiliation. Peter was very much 


Our Salvation 


129 


humbled after his godly repentance, while 
Judas was very much humiliated after his 
worldly repentance. Peter’s repentance re¬ 
sulted in life; Judas’s repentance resulted 
in death. 

There are also two kinds of faith: head- 
faith and heart-faith. Plead-faith is the 
assent of the mind to a fact. Napoleon 
came to Danzig on his way from Russia, 
after his defeat at Moscow. With his 
scattered and starved soldiers, in the snow 
and sleet he camped for a while in Danzig. 
You believe this historical fact. This is 
head-faith. You believe it, although you 
did not see it. 

There are people who believe that Jesus 
Christ lived in Palestine, and was crucified 
under Pontius Pilate. However, that kind 
of faith is merely an intellectual assent. 
It does not save a man from his sin. The 
devil believes all that. Head-faith can 
neither save nor damn a man. Germany 
has given the world a rationalistic theology 
9 


130 Modern Evangelism 

that has raised doubts as to the Virgin 
birth of Christ and the physical resurrection 
of Jesus Christ. While men have gone to 
extremes in destructive Bible criticism, it 
is merely a head-faith when we form our 
beliefs about historical criticism. This in 
itself may not damn you, but it may lead 
you on step by step until your heart will be 
involved, and then your soul will be en¬ 
dangered. 

Heart-faith is a consent of the will. The 
Bible uses the words “will” and “heart” 
in the same sense. It is this faith of the heart 
that saves us, or the lack of it that damns us. 
The heart is also the seat of unbelief. The 
Bible says: “The fool hath said in his 
heart, There is no God.” The reason he 
did not say it in his head is because a fool 
has no head. Some folks think it is smart 
to be an infidel or a skeptic, but it is the 
sign of a rotten heart rather than of a ripe 
mind. 

When your heart consents for Jesus to 


Our Salvation 


131 


control your life, that is heart-faith and 
your soul is saved. Just as a good woman 
consents in her heart to marry the man she 
loves, so a sinner consents in his heart for 
Jesus Christ to live with him. St. Paul 
says: “For with the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness; and with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom. 
x. 10.) 

While the Bible does not require “good 
works” as a condition of salvation, Protes¬ 
tants, like Catholics, seem to feel that good 
deeds will merit everlasting life. We do not 
work to be saved, but we work because we 
are saved. All the good deeds of a long and 
well-spent life cannot bring salvation. We 
must remember this, as we are in great 
danger at this point. As the text would 
suggest, we do not do “works,” but have 
“faith.” Paul says: “Faith toward our 
Lord Jesus Christ.” 

One day I was going to Chicago. When 
I reached the union depot a ticket agent 


132 Modern Evangelism 

said to me that he had a little boy whose 
father had died and whose mother had asked 
him to place the child in the care of the 
conductor and send him to her in Chicago. 
In my presence the railroad friend asked 
the little fatherless boy: 4 'Would you rather 
go with Mr. Holcomb or the conductor?” 
The little fellow had a serious look and be¬ 
gan to size me up. My friend told him that 
I was a preacher and said many nice things 
to him about me. The little fellow smiled. 
All children like a preacher. They know a 
good thing when they see it. 

When the train was announced, the agent 
said: "Will you go with the preacher or the 
conductor?” The little boy put his arms 
up and said to me, "I’ll go with you.” 
When we reached our destination, I saw a 
mother dressed in deep mourning, with her 
black veil pulled aside, and I saw the tears 
filling her eyes as she watched for her baby 
boy. Seeing him, she threw her arms 
around him, hugged and kissed him, and 


Our Salvation 133 

said: 44 Thank God, my little boy is home at 
last.” 

When I was a mere child I had heard good 
things about Jesus Christ, just as the little 
boy had heard my friend speak well of me. 
With my head I believed that Jesus was the 
“Rose of Sharon,” the “Lily of the Valley,” 
the “Bright and Morning Star,” and the 
“Prince of Peace.” But this intellectual as¬ 
sent did not lift the burden of sin from 
my heart. 

One day He said: “Son, will you give me 
your heart?” I threw up my hand in ab¬ 
solute surrender. I consented in my heart 
to make him my Saviour and Master. 
He took charge of my life, and has guided 
my steps on land and sea until this good 
hour. Some day when I reach the end of 
the way and he welcomes me home, I will 
ascribe all honor and glory to him. 

The most important thing in the text is 
salvation. Salvation is threefold. First, 
salvation from the pollution of sin. That is, 


134 


Modem Evangelism 


the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses our heart 
and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ par¬ 
dons our sins. This gives us conscious 
conversion. Second, salvation from the 
power of sin. It is a most humiliating thing 
to feel that you are a slave to anything or 
to anybody. To be the slave of sin and 
Satan is a most galling experience. Jesus 
Christ will give us power to overcome our 
secret and public sins. Third, salvation 
from the penalty of sin. St. Paul says: 
“The wages of sin is death.’* Ezekiel says: 
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” God 
will save us from the eternal punishment 
of our sins. This is salvation from hell to 
heaven. I do not mean that he will let you 
spend awhile in purgatory, then take you 
out of hell into heaven. But that salvation 
here will keep you from going to hell. If 
the love of Jesus Christ cannot keep you 
from going to hell, it cannot get you out 
of hell after you are dead. 

While repentance and faith are the Bible 


Our Salvation 


135 


conditions of peioonal salvation, they do not 
merit salvation. We must remember that 
salvation is a gift from God. It is the most 
priceless possession. 

There are three ways of coming into pos¬ 
session of property. You may inherit it 
from your parents or relatives, but you 
cannot inherit salvation from good parents. 
The best parents sometimes have the worst 
children. You may work and buy property 
with your hard - earned money, but you 
cannot buy salvation. There are not enough 
presses in Germany with capacity large 
enough to run off enough German marks to 
buy a pinch of salvation. In fact, there is 
not enough gold in the vaults of all the 
treasuries of all the nations of the world to 
purchase salvation. 

Some people have stolen the property 
that is in their possession. Many of your 
rich monarchists have robbed the plain 
people of Germany, but they cannot steal 
salvation. Many of the citizens of Danzig 


136 Modem Evangelism 

feel that the League of Nations has stolen 
this wonderful city from the control of the 
Germans. But we cannot take salvation 
from any one. Money is locked up in banks, 
but you do not have to lock up religion. 
Nobody could steal it if he would, and many 
people would not if they could. 

The other way of securing property is for 
somebody to give it to you. When any one 
makes you a gift, it is yours as much as 
if you had bought it. The only way that we 
can have salvation is to accept it as a 
gracious gift from God, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ. But remember, when God 
gives you salvation, it is yours. He invites 
us to come without money and without 
price 

The young ruler who came to Jesus asked: 
“What shall I do that I may inherit eternal 
life?” He could not inherit, buy, or steal 
salvation. The Bible says: “Neither is 
there salvation in any other: for there is 
none other name under heaven given among 


Our Salvation 137 

* 

men, whereby we must be saved.” Paul says 
that salvation is the gift of God. 

A young man got out too far in the ocean 
at Atlantic City. One of the expert swim¬ 
mers went to him, and as he went down for 
the first time the swimmer backed off from 
him. When he came to the surface the 
rescuer started to seize him, but swam away, 
allowing him to go down the second time. 
When the drowning man came to the surface 
again, the expert swimmer made a circle 
around him, and as the fellow started down 
for the last time the swimmer grabbed him 
and brought him ashore. 

His friends said: “Why did you trifle 
with a drowning man? Why did you not 
save him sooner?” He answered: “When 
I first got to him, he was trying to save 
himself. I had to wait until he gave up, so 
that I might save him.” 

Jesus Christ was watching for an opening 
to save the young ruler. However, the 
young man was so busy trying to save him- 


138 Modern Evangelism 

self that he would not give Jesus a chance. 
As the Bible says, “He went away sorrow¬ 
ful.” Will you not accept salvation as a 
free and gracious gift from your loving 
Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ? 




















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